Avneet Kaur

Jalandhar, July 26

Tears rolled down the cheeks of 75-year-old Gurbachan Kaur as she recalled the day when she got the news of her husband Harbhajan Singh’s martyrdom, who along with five others personnel was killed in the 1965 India-Pakistan war.

Gurbachan Kaur was present here today along with other widows of army-men, who attained martyrdom, to receive honour for being ‘Veer Nari’ from Additional Deputy Commissioner (General) Jasbir Singh, on Kargil Vijay Diwas at Punjab State War Memorial.

She said she lived with her husband for only a year. “I got married in 1964 while my husband sacrificed his life in the war of 1965. I’ve lived all these years without him. I have no children, so I pass my time with my neighbour’s children telling them stories of brave martyrs,” she said, adding that once a soldier was martyred, their families cry for government attention.

Similar was the tale of Manjit Kaur, whose husband head constable Sukhdev Singh was killed by terrorists at the Jalandhar district courts in 1986.

Remembering his last day with her husband, she said, “It was April and he told me to get ready as we would go to the market after he returned. Since he got late, I went to the hospital where I was then working as a nurse.”

Manjit Kaur said she was shocked to see a huge crowd gathered in front of her house when she returned around 3 pm as she was not aware of the tragedy till late in the evening.

Though she is now leading a quiet life after both her children were provided jobs by the state government the only grudge she had against the government was that she was promised full salary of her husband as pension till his year of retirement but she was only getting Rs 20,000 even after so many years.

Another retired army-man from Jalandhar, Arjan Singh, who was associated with the Punjab Regiment and was present at the event, said these functions were just a formality by the state government while in reality no one bothered to know about the martyrs’ families and retired army personnel.

He said he used to get a pension of Rs 4,500 per month. However, it has been since long that he hasn’t received his pension, he added.

“For one month or two, if I am fortunate enough, I get my pension, while for other months all I have to do is wait,” he said.

Meanwhile, apart from Gurbachan Kaur and Manjit Kaur, other Veer Naris who were felicitated included Rajwinder Kaur, Harpreet Kaur, Urmila Paul, Harjinder Kaur, Pal Kaur, Kulwinder Kaur, Harcharan Kaur and Gurdeep Kaur

District Defence Services Welfare Officer Major Yashpal Singh (retd) welcomed the dignitaries at the function. He said it was a solemn occasion to pay respects to the brave soldiers for their heroic deeds.